User blog:Lanthoriel/Sub-Optimal Promotions
Because I don't have the time, it seems, to sit down and make a full write-up of how to make PE/OPE/POPE cards at the moment, I thought I'd make a nice little entry on something of interest to the GI Joe Community: Sub-Optimal Evolutions At first, you might think that no one would want a sub-optimal card, right? But HOW sub-optimal are they, really? Let's look at the Promotion process: (((A + B) + C) + D) We have at most three chances to promote. At each promotion, 10% of the secondary card's stats are added as a bonus to the primary card, and the primary card gains a star, possibly increasing its rarity and increasing its base stats (though not always its current stats!). The first Promotion is A+B; the second is (A+B) + C; the third and final is ((A+B)+C) + D). A and B must be R1 cards; you have no choice there at all. You have 3 choices for card C, though; it can be a R1, a 'basic' R2, or a PE R2. We know that a R2 has 20% higher stats than an R1 (always). A PE R2, having gained 10% of a R1's stats during promotion, has 30% higher stats than a R1. If we take the case that C = R1 as a baseline, if you use a basic R2, you gain 10% * (20%) or 2% more stats; if you use a PE R2, you gain 3% of an R1. For a typical R1, we can approximate an 'average' stat of 5000; 2% of 5000 = 100, 3% = 150. This is the amount lost for using non-optimal cards in the Second Promotion. The Third Promotion has MANY more options, but mostly likely you'd want to use an EP3 of some sort in promoting. But what's the difference between an EP3 made from 4 or 3 R1s? Let's look. An EP3 is made thusly: ((A + B) + C), where A and B are R1s, and C could be an R1, R2, or PE R2. But hey! We just examined this earlier. We KNOW that if C is made from a PE R2, for example, it's 30% stronger than if it's an R1. BUT ... we are promoting, again. So, C's contribution to the final EP3 is 10% of its stats. Therefore: If C = R1, this is 'baseline'. If C = R2, it is 20% over baseline. ONLY 10% of that is contributed to the EP3, so the final EP3 is only 2% higher in stats. If C = PE R2, it is 30% over baseline. ONLY 10% of that is contributed to the EP3, so the final EP3 is only 3% higher in stats. Going back to our original EP4 build, what happens when we use our variable EP3's in making the EP4? If we used 7 R1s in making the EP4, thus using a single R1 to boost the R2 to make our secondary EP3 for the final promotion, this is 'baseline'. If we used 8 R1s in making the EP4, we used a PE R2 to boost the PE R2 to make that secondary EP3, and it was 30% stronger than baseline. The EP3 was 3% stronger. The EP4? .3% stronger. Yeah. Again, using 5000 as a baseline for R1 max stat, that works out to 15 points. I've never seen a base stat as high as 10,000, but if it could be that high? 30 points. Don't feel bad if you use 7 R1s to make a EP4. Seriously. And if you use 6 R1 + an R2? The difference is .1% of an R1. 10 points per 10,000 base stat. As I'll show later, the difference between a OPE(200) card from medals) and a OPE(250) card [+3275 from medals is around the same range. So you could just blow 50 medals and make up the difference. The real important thing is to use a good PE R2 for the second promotion and any 2 promotion EP3 in the final promotion (could be R1 + R1 + R1, (R1 + R1) + R2). If you use a single promotion EP3 or a base EP3, you lose as much as 23% R1 (base EP3 vs. PE EP3). Next post will be devoted to the correct way to medal a card. Category:Blog posts